Hi i'm doing textiles at A level and i need peoples opinions on it.
The costume is an interchangable one. It consists of a dress with the skirt open at the front and an underskirt underneath.
The cape is fully reversible.
The costume can be both a magician style character and a warrior style character, this is because it has differnet accessories.

For the magician - the cape and the staff.
For the warrior - the armour and the sword.

Does it bring out the essence of the anime style?
If yes then how so?
and if no why not?

Can you tell what type of character it is, the magician and the warrior?

Do the accessories go well with the costume? and do they fit in with the characters they are supposed to be.

What could be improved?

Have the fabrics i've used suitable and do they work well with the anime style?

If you could answer these questions and give any other advice then that would be great =) Thank you.

Well I will say what you have there is an inherently western design but like anyone on here will tell you during the mid to late 80s there was a boom of fantasy middle-earth'ishenss *made up word to describe this* that hit the gaming and anime community in japan i mean im talking pretty much most of the rpgs that followed final fantasy being released.

This outfit does capture a Genra of the anime market but it mainly caputures the sort of English fantasy epic a little more. Whilst im comlpletely in love with what you have done here someone on the street would not automatically assume it was anime.

My first thought was "LARP" (Live action role playing) because I saw something like this at a medieval festival not too long ago. I also saw things like this at the medieval festival I went to in Skipton not too long ago.

I love what you've done, and Ryukredapples is entirely right- 80's happened and then English folklore leaked into Japanese anime and gaming, but the style isn't actually anime in my opinion. I would automatically assume it was LARP, Lord of the Rings, that kind of thing. Because of the interchangeable accessories it has a Dungeons and Dragons feel to it as well... which again isn't Japanese. To me, the essence of the anime style is bold, brash contrasting colours (not the two tone and jewel looks... although in cosplay they can look fantastic), definitive lines and trims, big hair, bold statement clothing. The red cloack/coat is about right though.

I think the reasons it doesn't have an anime feel is: British Medieval/Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Folklore style of dress and accessories (think Merlin); many trimmings (trimmings with great detail are hard to animate consistently as anime needs to be simple to keep it consistent so anime generally doesn't have fancy, beaded trims); It's fabric-heavy (in that anime has generally flat, non-fabric heavy designs. The fabrics you've used play heavily in the design of the costume, am I right?); The stockings probably would be finicky to animate too because they are sheer and opaque at the same time.

I can tell the type of character, although the wand looks more like a metal pole to smack people with from the pics I saw (I couldn't look at them all). I can only tell this because I play Dungeons and Dragons though. I would say that for staffs/wands you would want something big and crazy (aka Keyblade, Negi Springfield's staff, that kind of thing), and the costume itself looks a bit too rich for a warrior if you ask me but that's just my opinion.

It's a gorgeous costume... I really like it! To me, it's a western style LARPers costume though. I also do A-level textiles but ours is more fabric orientated than costuming.

I think I've just about answered everything ^^ I'm always open to discuss further though!

I had to do a lot of research for this project and i found anime which had the details of trimmings and lace which is why i used it on this costume. I couldn't leave the costume as simple as just the bold fabrics so i had to add a lot of detail which i realise anime doesn't usually have. So it's sort of a suped up cosplay costume =P

I would agree with most of what was said above about the LARP side of things. I think it's the actual dress shape and the colours that give this effect, though the trimmings and details could be taken from anime they're a bit overwhelmed by the actual outfit, which looks quite English. I feel its mainly the wide open neck in combination with the colours, the square open neck and wide frilled dress are inherently English looking designs, combined with the royal colours it's hard to escape that imagery. Though personally I feel the outfit looks a lot more anime-esque when you're not wearing the cape, because the whole ensemble looks more cute and upbeat! The cloak gives the character a more royale persona, which is associated more with D&D and LARP than anime.

But without the cape I think it could pass quite easilly as an anime outfit!

Quote emmie08:I had to do a lot of research for this project and i found anime which had the details of trimmings and lace which is why i used it on this costume. I couldn't leave the costume as simple as just the bold fabrics so i had to add a lot of detail which i realise anime doesn't usually have. So it's sort of a suped up cosplay costume =P

Thanks for the replys =)

It's alright, glad to help ^^ Hurm, could you direct me to the anime pics you used for reference? Don't get me wrong, I love the costume anyway ^^

For medieval/fantasy anime, you might want to ask around to see if anyone knows some that you can look at. I think about Rune Soldier, Sorcerer Hunters, Demon Diary, Arc the Lad, and that kind of thing :/ Take a nosey ^__^

Also, yes, Deceipher is totally right the wide square neck and shape of the dress. It does look a bit more anime without the cloak, but then... a lot of people in anime have cloaks too so I'm not sure why XD